PLTFRM – Cause & Affect w/ Darkzy at XOYO [Review]

Following the announcement that XOYO was being taken over by Cause & Affect and Darkzy on June 15th, Cal Sørensen headed down to PLTFRM on behalf of Selecta to experience a huge UK Bass lineup in the Capital city.

Off of the back of the news that Lorenzo had continued production with Kane on their immensely popular Cause & Affect project, and the ever-increasing popularity of 140 mastermind Darkzy, I decided it was finally time to make the pilgrimage to XOYO for the first time. It was definitely worth it.

Before I get into this, it’s vital that I big up the hosts of the night, PLTFRM, for donating £1 from every ticket sale to charity in the wake of the horrific Grenfell Tower incident – something that has brought our country together in remembrance, hope and love, and something that united all the ravers at XOYO that night.

Moving on to the night itself, a stellar bass-driven lineup was on show with the aforementioned Cause & Affect and Darkzy topping the bill, and Bristol party-starters & fellow Bucky lovers Buckfast Boys Club also playing in the main room. Colours don ARRIDIM and RV, Harry Yellop, Cappa and Harry Davies capped off the action in Room 2.

Arriving through the dimly lit entrance of the Old Street club, just off the Magic Roundabout, ARRIDIM was kicking things off nicely in Room 2, shelling out Bushbaby & Bru-C’s new Southpoint: Introducing collab ‘Know About Dat’. Keeping the crowd on its toes, this was swiftly followed by a change in tempo to Motu’s UK funky-tinged ‘Red Devil’ in a set that provided the perfect start to the evening’s proceedings.

Downstairs in the main room, the room was beginning to pack out nicely as Bristol favourites Buckfast Boys Club took to the stage with their high-energy blend of bassline cuts, grime instrumentals and crowd-pleasing vocals. Reeling off a mix of RL Grime’s ‘Scylla’ and Wiley’s timeless ‘Step 20’ was a highlight, backed up by a slew of nasty tracks, namely Champion’s ‘Gunshot’, Notion’s ‘Crooklyn VIP’, Q’s Classic MC Bonez-featured ‘You Wot’, Sammy Virji’s sought after refix of Darkzy’s ‘One Dance’ and Goof’s weighty ‘All Eyes On You’. After the boys ended their set to a rapturous reception from the crowd, it was time for Kane to step up on the wax as everyone’s favourite bass/house hybrid, Cause & Affect.

The thing that made this set so special was the fact that half of it was purely dubs. Dub, after dub, after dub. As the scene has grown in popularity, and the numbers associated with Lengoland and Krudd has grown (highlighted by the amount of merch in XOYO), it seems the focus on Chris Lorenzo dubs has reached an all time high, and for good reason. Reaching for Lorenzo & Taiki Nulight’s bouncy ‘Don’t Stop’, the much sought after ‘Gammy Elbow’ and Chris’ eerie remix of Deadmau5’s ‘Raise Your Weapon, Cause & Affect sent shockwaves through the dancefloor. VIP’s of ‘Round The Clock’, ‘Get To The Chopper’ and their remix of Zinc’s euphoric ‘Show Me’ followed before flooring into top gear with Hazard’s anthemic ‘Bricks Don’t Roll’. I’ve never seen C&A play dnb, but it was joyfully lapped up by the punters.

Despite C&A topping the bill, I’d say Darkzy’s set was the most anticipated, with queues forming to get downstairs just before he came on. With a set that produced most of my current collection of wanted ID’s, Darkzy swapped between the most high-octane genres you could think of, effortlessly switching up heavy bassline, bass-house, dubstep, dnb & jump up. He wasted no time in steaming through ‘In For The Kill’, his ‘Bullacake’ VIP and Cryptic’s deadly, heinous remix of P Jam’s ‘Hand On My Heart’ before bringing in some equally nasty dubstep and one of the dubs of the moment, Sekko’s ‘Dickhead’ feat. Bru-C. Then came the drums. Cutting from a loop of the infamous ‘Ol Tite’ vocal straight into Hedex’s ‘Hotel Bass’ VIP, Phibes’ epic refix of ‘Voodoo People’ was due to come in, and it did – spawning arguably the reaction of the night. Closing with Dimension’s ‘Love To Me’, the lights came up and the night had come to an end, but what a night it was. PLTFRM hit the nail on the head with the lineup, bringing together some of the shining lights of the bass scene, and proving why this is perhaps the strongest it’s been in a long time.